Mission: Deliverance
by Uyahasatsu
Summary: The fight against Akatsuki and Orochimaru has begun. New shinobi are being trained at the academy, and every new team will need to help with their own part in order to save Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own many of the characters. I do own Kaori, Ichiro, Akiko, and any villains who are not members of Akatsuki.

Chapter 1:

There was a loud knock on the door. Kaori woke up startled by the noise.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"It's Akiko, hurry up. We're already late for the graduation ceremony!"

Kaori looked at his watch. "It's this late already?"

He got dressed quickly and hurried out. Akiko was already waiting for him.

Akiko and Kaori had been friends since they were little. Their appearances were so similar that people usually thought they were siblings. They were both very tall, with black hair and green eyes. Kaori always spiked his hair, and Akiko had long, straight hair, extending to the middle of her back. She usually wore it in a ponytail, but for the ceremony she had curled it and let it flow. They ran as fast as they could towards the ceremony's location.

When they arrived, the ceremony had already started. The Hokage was about to begin calling those who graduated from the academy to present them with their headbands, a symbol of maturity and the symbol of the ninja. They had been waiting for this moment ever since their first year at the academy.

The three years they had spent working on their genjutsu and taijutsu had been worth the while though. From this day on they would be working for the feudal lords, taking missions, and training to become stronger.

As Genins they would only be taking "A" ranked missions, but when they became Chuunins, they would start taking rank "B" and "C" missions. Then they could become Jounins, which met they'd be allowed to take "D" rank missions, as well as training their own group of Genins.

They took their seats trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, yet they felt a wave of stares in their direction as they sat down.

"Thank god that our parents' group is out on a mission, I couldn't look at their faces if they saw me arrive this late" Whispered Kaori.

"What happened? Why are you here so late?" Asked Konohamaru who was sitting on Akiko's other side.

"I overslept." He replied.

"Really? That doesn't sound like you at all…"

He was right. Akiko was known for his punctuality. This was the first time he ever arrived late to anything, let alone the most important event he had ever attended.

The Hokage called Akiko. Tsunade had already been the Hokage for three years now. She had long blonde hair, and though she was about fifty years old, she looked like twenty three.

Akiko got up and went to the altar. The view of the Hokage Mountain was clear. The mountain had the faces of all the Hokages' heads sculpted on its side. They had recently finished sculpting Tsunade's face onto it.

When he reached Tsunade, she presented him with the headband, as well as his diploma, and a list of the members on his three men group. He was happy to find that Kaori had been assigned to his same team. The other team member was Ichiro, a mysterious kid, rumored to be the last living member of his clan.

He had always been in good terms with Ichiro, though he had never really been too close with him. Ichiro was shorter than Akiko, with tan skin and shoulder length hair which always fell over his face covering his eyes. He also wore shades wherever he went so his eye color was a mystery to everyone. This air of mysteriousness was something that caused all the girls in the class to like him.

Akiko was fairly popular himself. His height made him stand out, and girls in his class seemed to like that. He found them annoying; they always crowded him whenever he was trying to study, and at lunch. Ichiro had the same problem for a short time, but the girls seemed to be afraid to speak with him.

Kaori walked into the room with a big smile on her face. She had feared that she would be separated from Akiko in the team selection, and was relieved to be in the same team. Now there was only one question left:

"Who do you think our team leader will be?" She asked.

"That would be me."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own many of the characters. I do own Kaori, Ichiro, Akiko, Kenjiro, and any villains who are not members of Akatsuki.

Chapter 2:

"That would be me" A voice said from behind their backs.

They turned around to find Kenjiro, a tall dark haired Jounin, who was a good friend of Kaori. He had recently been promoted to Jounin, only two days before Kaori graduated from the academy. Kaori was surprised by the team he had been assigned into. It exceeded all of his expectations.

"Tsunade-sama agreed to put your team under my tutoring. As you guys know you are my first team of students, so I'll have big expectations of you." Said Kenjiro.

"This is great! We'll soon be making our way to the top, all of us together!" Said Kaori.

Akiko stood still, as if she had been left awestruck. Suddenly, she grabbed a kunai from her holster and threw it at him. She hit him in the arm, and Kenjiro disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Bravo, I could expect no less from you." Said Kenjiro to Akiko as he walked from behind them. "You didn't do too bad yourself either." He told Ichiro while he dropped a kunai from between his thumb and index fingers.

"Now as for you, Kaori, what's gotten into you?" As he said that, Kaori transformed into a log, and a second later Kenjiro was on the floor, with Kaori standing on his back.

"You fell for that!" Chanted Kaori happily while he helped Kenjiro get up.

"Well, I guess you all passed your first test. Now I'd like to talk to all of you about something important." He signaled the three of them to sit down in a bench to the side of the room. "As you know, these are difficult times. Akatsuki has started to spread terror around, and so has Orochimaru. Our missions might turn out more dangerous than they seem, since chaos is ruling the world, and anyone you meet along the way might turn out to be an enemy."

"This again?" Asked Kaori, sounding irritated.

"So you've heard it already?" Asked Kenjiro

"We've discussed some of the points in class." Replied Akiko.

"Did they tell you that three members of Akatsuki were found in the outside of Konoha last week?"

This startled Akiko and Kaori, yet Ichiro remained unperturbed.

"They never said that!" Cried Akiko

"I knew about that." Replied Ichiro.

"And how is that?" Interrogated Kenjiro.

"I was the one who found them." Said Ichiro with a mysterious grin in his face.

"Oh, yes. I was told one of the students had been the one to alert the Hokage. Very impressive technique too. An advanced bloodline I believe?"

"No, my advanced bloodline is something I haven't fully mastered yet. The use of ceramic birds was something I created when I was a kid." Replied Ichiro

"Well, it is a magnificent technique, and will be very useful in the future." Was Kenjiro's reply.

"Now, I believe this is our first time meeting and I haven't introduced myself. I'm Kenjiro Dan." Kenjiro extended a hand towards Ichiro.

"I am Ichiro Sohma, from the Sohma clan." he replied, shaking Kenjiro's hand.

"You're a Sohma then? Now that explains the shades." Kenjiro looked at Ichiro awestruck, while Kaori looked at the scene confused.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Kaori who was obviously disconcerted by what had just happened.

"You'll see when the time comes." Was Kenjiro's only response.

"But if you need to know…" Said Ichiro.


	3. Chapter 3

"The Sohma clan has an advance bloodline that exceeds most of the ones in Konoha. Some of its aspects are similar to those of the Hyuuga and Uchiha clan." Said Kenjiro, but Ichiro is the one who should tell you the extent of his power.

At tha point, Ichiro took his shades off, revealing his eyes. Kaori looked at Ichiro's eyes, which glowed a dark blue, and then said "Woah, that's awesome, but what exactly is your advanced bloodline?"

Ichiro grinned and started talking. "As Kenjiro said, some of the characteristics are similar to the Hyuuga and Itachi clans. With my advanced bloodline, I am able to see the chakra flow of a person, as well as have the ability to copy one of my opponents techniques."

Kenjiro was curious, so he edcided tto ask. "So does that mean you could defeat a member of the Uchiha clan?"

To which Ichiro replied "Maybe, the things is that I have special limitations. I can only copy one move every 24 hours, and see chakra flow for a limited period of time. You might also want to know the fact that those aren't the only abilites that compose this advanced bloodline. That is why I must train hard and master it in order to surpass these limits. The advantage I would have on an Uchiha though, is the combat style which has earned as our reputation as one of Konoha's strongest clans, but if you want to see that, you'll have to wait."

At that point, Akiko, who had been standing aside listening, put a hand on Kaori's shoulder and said "That's amazing, but right now, Kaori and I must go. Jiraiya asked us to meet him at 6 sharp, and if we don't hurry we'll be late."

They said goodbye to Kenjiro and Ichiro, and left the room.

"I wonder why Jiraiya wanted to meet us." said Kaori.

"I dunno, but he made it seem very important." replied Akiko. "We gotta hurry, it's almost 6"

Five minutes later they were at the hot spring district, where Jiraiya had asked to meet them.

"He's not here yet..." said Akiko "That's weird, I'd expected him to be a bit more punctual... What time is it?"

Kaori looked at his watch "its 3 minutes till 6. He sould be here any second now."

"That's right" said a voice behind them.

They looked behind them and saw two people standing there.

"I'd like you to meet someone" Said Jiraiya.


End file.
